Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I would have loved if had the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, come into the House to deal with this issue. It is an ongoing issue because there is a lot of scaremongering and a lot of unknowns around the Airbnb sector.

We have no sight of any exemptions or plans as what is happening with regard to planning permissions or exemptions to planning for Airbnbs. It is a huge bone of contention.

I attended a meeting in Limerick at which hundreds of people were in the room . They have all been trying to supplement their income or make a living and are doing really interesting things around Airbnb. We have three houses in horse transport boxes and resurrected caravans and all kinds of good things coming up, which is great for tourism. These people are left in a kind of no-man's land as to what is happening in respect of planning. Local authorities got no guidance from the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, whose job it is to make sure that we get this right. Of course there are issues around Airbnbs that in some circumstances could be enticed into long-term rentals to help us with the housing situation. I have no problem with that. However, there is a huge problem around ignoring the fact that many Airbnbs will never be suitable to live in on a long-term basis. They have been left in limbo and have received no guidance from the Minister. Local authorities can give no guidance to owners of these kinds of Airbnbs, that is, these creative highly entrepreneurial Airbnb offerings that people have been working hard to create. I do not know where we are going with this, as this has been ongoing for over a year and a half now. The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is responsible for tourism and she is looking at the register of Airbnbs but she would also like to know what is happening here as there is no guidance coming from planning or from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien.

I would like to give people an answer as to what is happening, as they really are worried and scared about the unknowns. Once we have unknowns, they instil fear and people presume the worst-case scenarios where they are all going to be shut down forever. There are genuine concerns among people and it is important that we look at Airbnb properly and get this right. If there are possibilities around getting short-term rental houses into the long-term market, that is a good thing in terms of helping people find somewhere to live. We need Airbnb for tourism but we also need places for people to live locally, so that local businesses are not struggling with finding employees to work for them. People cannot work for these businesses if they have nowhere to live near them. This has been a huge issue for us around north County Clare because it is such a beautiful part of the country and everybody wants to come and visit. We need to consider having guidance for the people who are worried, because they have been left hanging for a year and a half now and are asking what is happening with exemptions for them under the planning rules. I urge the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to expedite this whole issue.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Garvey for giving me this opportunity on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to update the Seanad in relation to the planning guidelines that will supplement the short-term letting legislation.

In line with the specific action in the Government's Housing for All plan, to develop new regulatory controls requiring short-term and holiday lets to register with Fáilte Ireland with a view to ensuring that houses are used to best effect in areas of housing need, that is, action 20.4, on 7 December 2022, the Government approved the publication of the general scheme of the registration of short-term tourist letting Bill and for the priority drafting of that Bill, which provides for the establishment of a new registration system for short-term lettings to be operated by Fáilte Ireland. Work on the Bill is being led by the Minister for tourism and her Department. The legislation must support the development of vibrant urban and rural areas through ensuring that existing building stock is utilised for long and short-term rental, as appropriate, in order to ensure that the benefits of tourism can be effectively harnessed to provide benefit to local economies, while ensuring that the vitality and long-term housing needs of communities are maintained.

In parallel to the drafting of that Bill, the Department of housing has committed to providing planning guidelines to local authorities, which is of course what the Senator is asking about. In tandem with the establishment of the register and associated regulations, the guidance is intended to provide clarity to the short-term let sector with regard to planning requirements. Ensuring consistency in approach by planning authorities in respect of the assessment and determination of short-term letting-related planning applications on a national basis will require a careful balance between the relative need for housing and tourist accommodation in any given area. In effect, the guidelines will provide local authorities with an appropriate framework within which they can make an informed, balanced decision with regard to short-term letting planning applications, having regard to the broader needs of the local area concerned. In that regard, the Department of housing recognises that home sharing, that is, the letting of a room or rooms in a person's principal private residence, which was the original model on which the Airbnb concept was based, is an acceptable principle in support of tourism. New guidelines will allow that to continue unhindered after the enactment of the short-term letting Bill.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will engage with local authorities and other relevant stakeholders on the development of the guidelines. Officials from both the Department of tourism and the Department of housing are in regular engagement on the drafting of those guidelines. It is intended that a draft of the planning guidelines will be published by the Department of housing in conjunction with the publication of the Bill by the Minister for tourism, in order that relevant property owners, as the Senator says, can have notice as to what to expect. Stakeholder groups and Oireachtas Members will also have greater understanding of the planning requirements as the Bill is being progressed through the Houses of the Oireachtas. The final planning guidelines will then be issued by the Minister for housing upon the enactment of the short-term letting Bill. That is the sequence.

Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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The question I am asking today is when there will be guidance around planning exemptions for short-term lets for people who have got Airbnbs that cannot be rented out long-term. The answer has not come in that there is no timeline there. Another season has gone with lots of people who have Airbnbs living in fear and wondering whether this will be their last term. Have we sight of any timeline to let people know when there will be guidance given to local authorities? When will there be guidelines on exemptions from planning for Airbnbs? Exactly what is happening? This does not answer my question. I really want to know whether there will be exemptions and when they will be announced. T hat is what people want to know.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I believe the Senator is asking me for the substance of the guidelines, which I do not have.

Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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No, just the timelines.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State, without interruption.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The timeline is that a draft will be published on the publication of the Bill. It will be published alongside the publication of the Bill, as I noted there in the answer. That will be in order that Members of the Oireachtas and stakeholders can have sight of what is envisaged. I think the Senator is asking me to confirm exemptions or the status of exemptions in an answer, which I cannot do.

What I can do is to give a little bit more information from the Department of housing on the context of Airbnbs more broadly. There are about 30,000 Airbnbs in Ireland. Two thirds of those are full properties. The greatest concentrations are in two central Dublin local electoral areas and in Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry and Cork, all with about 1,000 listings. It is a very significant rural tourism element but as a result, it really dominates the private rental sector in those locations.

The Bill will be accompanied by planning guidelines, aiming to allow for balance between tourism and housing requirements. There will be a greater focus on housing in towns where housing needs and affordability issues are pressing. The data from the Department of housing will show that the same income can be made in as little as seven to 11 days with an Airbnb, as for regular rental market in a month. There is a clear economic rationale for using Airbnb but it does have a major impact in crowding out longer-term rental accommodation. In many cities, for example Barcelona, it seems to be overwhelmingly an urban issue. With the exception of the two Dublin LEAs, that does not seem to be the case in Ireland; it is much more of a rural issue. The balance is slightly skewed, in that there seems to be a different profile in Ireland than in other countries. The data is going to be very important but I am sure the Minister for housing will flesh that out in due course.